LAS VEGAS – In MMA, especially with smaller promotions, an entire division can be propped up by a single dominant fighter.

However, with Strikeforce’s women’s 145-pound division, could the loss of its champion and pound-for-pound queenpin actually save it?

On Saturday Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos’ yearlong suspension for a failed drug test could actually result in an influx of talent and perhaps event a brighter future for the division.

Santos, of course, was suspended a year and fined $2,500 after testing positive for an anabolic steroid at a Dec. 17 Strikeforce event in San Diego. Although she blamed the test on a dietary supplement that unknowingly contained stanozolol, she’s been stripped of the title, and UFC president Dana White initially suggested the entire division could be trashed.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, though, sees things a bit differently, and once the dust settles, he thinks the division could actually be deeper in talent.

“The 145-pound weight class, I don’t think it’s time to throw that out to the garbage,” Coker said. “I feel we still have some great fighters at 145, and a lot of girls who maybe haven’t been around for a while are going to be motivated to come back because ‘Cyborg’ isn’t going to be there.

“I heard that [White] had said something to the fact of, ‘Well, with her out, what’s the division?’ But there are girls out there … we can bring in to fight at 145. If that’s not the case, I’m sure we’ll evaluate it and make a business decision. But I don’t think that determination has been made.”

One possibility? Gina Carano, whose fighting career has been put on hold due to her upcoming big-screen debut and starring role in the Steven Soderbergh-directed “Haywire,” which hits theaters on Jan. 20. Carano twice has been rumored to be coming back from a two-years-plus layoff, but the plans never materialized.

“I think Gina Carano is definitely someone who would like to fight again at some point,” Coker said.

Additionally, though she’s slotted to drop a weight class and fight champ Miesha Tate for her bantamweight title at a March 3 Strikeforce event, Olympian and undefeated top prospect Ronda Rousey could return to the featherweight division.

“Ronda, her original plan was to fight Miesha … take a couple fights, and come back up and fight at 145 because I think she’s a little more comfortable at 145,” Coker said. “So to say there won’t be any 145-pound weight class, I think that’s premature.”

As for Santos, Coker can’t easily hide his disappointment. He had often billed the champ as “the Mike Tyson of women’s MMA,” but admittedly, the Brazilian titleholder’s entire reign now is under suspicion. Even if the appeal of her suspension proves fruitful, she won’t be back in the cage anytime soon, and it’s not clear if Strikeforce even would want her back.

Plus, as women’s MMA has struggled to gain traction on the international stage, much of Strikeforce’s progress over the past few years has been ruined.

“The thing that’s really sad about the ‘Cyborg’ thing is that it makes you really wonder about the validation of all those other fights,” he said of the ex-champ’s two-and-a-half-year reign. “I would hate for people to just kind of say she was cheating the whole time, but when that happens to any fighter or any athlete … it makes you wonder.

“Bottom line, if you’re going to cheat, you shouldn’t be fighting against opponents who aren’t.”

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